best source for cryo hops that publish harvest year?

[Unicorn_Platypus]

hoping to find the most reliable source for fresh cryo

I had a bad experience with one of the major homebrew retailers who does not publish the batch year. Lets just say the hops were a bit cheezy and not as aromatic as pellets

Anyone have recommendations of a good source they have personally ordered from?

Looking for mosaics

 

[Jsmith2154]

Do you mind sharing where you ordered from?
I don’t have a lot to go on here but wanted to offer my experience. Earlier this year I order cryo form morebeer. They do not list crop year on the site but the packaging has the lot information. After listening to a hop and brew school podcast a month or so ago I wanted to start ordering my hops from YCH. On shop.yakimachief.com you can order directly. A couple of pros and cons from my experience.
Pro:
Free shipping on any order
Lot information on each hop pack
Receive directly from the grower/processors
Cons:
More expensive per ounce
Limited packaging options (1oz cryo, and 2oz T90)
Limited hop selection
Site is limited on information about what you are ordering

Despite the cons now that I know how the site works I was happy with my experience and will try and use that site exclusively for my hop orders. Hope this helps.

 

[HB_ATL73]

Who was the retailer?

I don't personally use cryo. I cant justify to pay 5-6$ an ounce. Have you seen remarkable differences in your beer using them?

I shop with Yakima Valley Hops and they have great prices and customer service. Their 2019 crop of Mosaic (pellets) is going for $22.99.

Many people like HopsDirect as well.

Anyway, I'm not trying to convince you to not use cryo. Many of the major retailers have great customer service and I'm sure giving a call or email you could find out about the available inventory they have and shop with the one that has the freshest cryo

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Do you mind sharing where you ordered from?
I don’t have a lot to go on here but wanted to offer my experience. Earlier this year I order cryo form morebeer. They do not list crop year on the site but the packaging has the lot information. After listening to a hop and brew school podcast a month or so ago I wanted to start ordering my hops from YCH. On shop.yakimachief.com you can order directly. A couple of pros and cons from my experience.
Pro:
Free shipping on any order
Lot information on each hop pack
Receive directly from the grower/processors
Cons:
More expensive per ounce
Limited packaging options (1oz cryo, and 2oz T90)
Limited hop selection
Site is limited on information about what you are ordering

Despite the cons now that I know how the site works I was happy with my experience and will try and use that site exclusively for my hop orders. Hope this helps.

Morebeer was the retailer I used and the batch of cryo hops were definitely old. They refunded me for them. So don't wanna give morebeer a bad name. Generally hops from them are great even if they don't list a year. They always do right if there's an issue.

I'm still curious to experiment with cryo as I don't feel like I've been able to give it a real shot.

Thanks for the tip on YCH!

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Who was the retailer?

I don't personally use cryo. I cant justify to pay 5-6$ an ounce. Have you seen remarkable differences in your beer using them?

I shop with Yakima Valley Hops and they have great prices and customer service. Their 2019 crop of Mosaic (pellets) is going for $22.99.

Many people like HopsDirect as well.

Anyway, I'm not trying to convince you to not use cryo. Many of the major retailers have great customer service and I'm sure giving a call or email you could find out about the available inventory they have and shop with the one that has the freshest cryo

I've had mixed experiences with Yakima Valley Hops. Last year I received a terrible lot of Columbus hops that were obviously a late harvest and reeked terriblely of onion and garlic. Makes me skeptical that they might be pawning off the lots that probrewers don't scoop up to us homebrewers. Their customer service team did nothing to remedy this when I raised it to them.

I'd only really be open to ordering from them again if I knew the particular lot was reliable. Have you had good experiences with this year's lot of mosaics from them?

At least with morebeer thier hops are usually high quality. Never gotten late harvest aromas. If the hops I received are stale they always refund it.

I'm still curious to use cryo as I'd prefer to use less hops in the keg for dry hopping

 

[HB_ATL73]

Have you had good experiences with this year's lot of mosaics from them?

I have not. I've used close to a pound of 2018 crop and it has been great (same with 2018 Citra).

I'm surprised to hear that they didn't do anything about your concern for Columbus hops.
Then again I have not had any issues like that before with them as all of the hops have been good quality.

Their customer service team did nothing to remedy this when I raised it to them.

Well I hope their 2018 Cascade is good quality I just bought 2# of it.
I guess ill only be out $10 if not

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

I have not. I've used close to a pound of 2018 crop and it has been great (same with 2018 Citra).

I'm surprised to hear that they didn't do anything about your concern for Columbus hops.
Then again I have not had any issues like that before with them as all of the hops have been good quality.



Well I hope their 2018 Cascade is good quality I just bought 2# of it.
I guess ill only be out $10 if not

Guess their prices are low enough that it's worth a gamble as long as I order em well in advance of brew day so they can get the sniff test

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I'm still curious to use cryo as I'd prefer to use less hops in the keg for dry hopping

Morebeer isn't perfect but their customer service is outstanding and they'll always make it right(from my experience).

In terms of using cryo I recently did a pale ale with 1 oz of citra cryo in the dry hop and it was really awesome. I'm definitely planning on experimenting a lot more with cryo dry hopping even if it costs me a few extra bucks. I've bought from Morebeer and Austin Homebrew so I'm not sure where that oz I used came from. I have several more ounces in the freezer I'm going to use shortly.

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Morebeer isn't perfect but their customer service is outstanding and they'll always make it right(from my experience).

In terms of using cryo I recently did a pale ale with 1 oz of citra cryo in the dry hop and it was really awesome. I'm definitely planning on experimenting a lot more with cryo dry hopping even if it costs me a few extra bucks. I've bought from Morebeer and Austin Homebrew so I'm not sure where that oz I used came from. I have several more ounces in the freezer I'm going to use shortly.

agreed that Morebeer has excellent customer service. I think as long as I order a few weeks before brewing I'm ok to use them